Photo Galleries

Video Galleries

My name. Your space.

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but we’re up and running now.I hope you enjoy the new look and feel of www.queenrania.jo.

It might have my name on it, but this is your space too. It’s a place where you can contact me directly…give me feedback… post photos… blog back…debate ideas…be part of a global campaign…suggest things for me to do and see…learn more about education…exchange information…and take action on issues we both care about it.

Your Majesty,
assalamalaykum!
I'm a 20 years old Italian girl.
I have always been deeply interested and fascinated by the Arab world and after finished high school, I started to learn Arabic at university.
I have never been in Middle East, but I hope to visit as soon as possible!
I think you area great woman, so simple that one can forget you are a queen...a woman with a power!
I heard your interview in Sanremo.
What you said is a wonderful hymn to peace, tolerance, respect between the cultures.
I loved especially your words about Islam and Arab world.
You are, in my opinion,one of the best "flag" for the people of the Arab world but also an example for all of us!
Thank you very much for all things you did and you will continue to do, thank you for what are you represent for the world!

Who is right, who is wrong? Is it possible that the real problem is interference by governmental entities and corrupt religious institutions? If we could cut through the chaff of religious rhetoric and governmental bias, would we see something different from what we see today in Israel and Palestine. Food for thought, excerpt from the novel "Palestine" (a quote from Princess Al Zahra Abdul):

Al Zahra reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out a stone. “Our family has passed this piece of stone down from generation to generation for thousands of years. According to our family tradition this is the piece of stone that Avraham (Ibrahim) gave to Ishmael, the ancestor to the Arab nations. It was passed down through Mohammad who passed it on to his daughter who passed it on to the present generation. It was given by my grandfather to my father. My father brought it with him from Gaza when he believed I was going to die. According to the prophet, the other half of the stone is possessed by the descendants of Isaac, the second son of Avraham. When the other piece of the stone is found and placed up against this part of the stone the two broken pieces will fit together perfectly forming the shape of a human heart. Then it will be time for the Arabs and the Jews to unite as brothers and sisters.”

“This weekend of miracles was given to us so that we would know the truth in this story of Avraham. When these two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews, unite as brothers and sisters, and love one another in that capacity, then all the people of the world who accept this key of life as did our great ancestor Noah, will overcome illness and death. The key of life is represented by the two pieces of the stone which represents the heart. One piece of the stone represents love and the other piece of the stone represents forgiveness. This is the message that the prophet gave to me which I am now giving to you.” Al Zahra held up the piece of stone so everyone could see it.

Toward the back of the crowd a man said, “I have a piece of stone. It is the stone that was given to me by the rabbi in Moscow who said I should give it to Aaron. I jumped on a plane and flew straight here all night. The rabbi told me that this was passed down from Avraham through his son Isaac, for this day. I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

The man walked forward with the stone and gave it to Aaron. Aaron looked at it and noticed its beautiful colors. He also noticed that it looked like the stone that Al Zahra was holding in her hand. Al Zahra looked at Aaron then held the piece of stone in her hand up towards Aaron. Aaron took the piece of stone he had been given and held it up to the stone Al Zahra was holding. Much to the amazement of everyone watching, the two broken pieces of stone fit together perfectly to form a single stone that had the shape of a human heart.

In Jerusalem, Rabbi Jacobson and his wife sat in their living room watching the live broadcast of events at the hospital. As he saw the two pieces of stone placed together the rabbi suddenly felt a sense of peace that he had never felt before. He stood up from his chair and looked at the television set for several minutes as the news commentators tried to understand and describe what had just happened. Then he turned and walked to the door that led to the tunnel. He entered through the door, went down the stairs and through the tunnel then walked to the door of the large hidden room. He passed through that door and closed it behind him then he went into the tunnel that led to the room nine miles away and 300 feet beneath Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center. The rabbi began to walk rapidly then as his excitement grew he began to run. He ran as quickly as he could through the nine miles of the tunnel. When he finally reached the room at the end of the tunnel, he ran over to the fireplace and removed the stone from the mantel. Out of breath and gasping for air, he took the deer skin cloth out of its cover and opened it revealing the map, drawn 2000 years ago, that showed the location where the first resurrection would occur in the critical care unit of Hadassah-Hebrew School of Medicine. The rabbi lifted the map from the table, held it to his chest, closed his eyes then whispered, “Elul 2, 5775. He is here.” The date on the Gregorian calendar was August 17, 2015.

Assalamualakuim, I am a junior in high school, and I live in the U.S., however my father is Jordanian and I visit every other summer. I am part of a technical theatrical program at home, and I am extremely interested in how everything is run during such performances like the Jerash festival and all the concerts. I wish to broaden my knowledge of theatre and gain experience in a historic and ancient place. My father hasn't taken the initiative to ask his family around for opportunities and so I decided to go to the top. I wish to somehow be involved on the technical side of the productions run in Jerash, Amman, anywhere in Jordan, sometime over the summer. Is there anyway I can get in? Any website, phone number, person that I can talk to? Please help me find a place in so I can get ahold of my dream.

I'm uncertain if you receive these messages, but I will write because I am prompted by God to do so...

I am British born but now resident in Hong Kong, (Just two short months). I came here to provide FREE English lessons to underprivileged children who cannot afford the westerner's fees; in a society where a second language dominates their educational and commercial culture.

I am currently trying to assist what appears to be fete de complete. Lantau is a large HK Island and it's only Secondary school has been closed (Government figures - don't you just love that statement!) indicated that there were insufficient attendees... There are actually 800 children of school age.

Anyway - to cut a long story short... HK Government in collaboration with a private drugs rehabilitation organisation for teenagers are set to occupy the school in a small coastal village called Mui Wo. (There is much on the internet to expand further).

The residents of Mui Wo do not object to the centre, but do object to not having their own school. Children currently have a 4 hour round trip to school on the main island... (This is valuable time they should have at home). there have been protests etc. but all along the islanders are made to look aggressors against the rehabilitation people. Media always reports in favour of the rehabilitation people and critises all the island's attempts. there are 17 other locations available for the centre in HK but only one school in Mui Wo...

I'm not sure what influence you might have, but unless someone with some 'sway' can enlighten the whole process and get the HK people behind this through awareness... it will simply go through. My own thoughts are money and power, lie behind the arrangement which is why so little recognition has been shown to the islanders.

Assalamu alaikum Queen Rania
I hope your are in the best of health insha Allah. I need to get in contact with you to ask you about the entry requirements for international students at the various med schools in Jordan. What are the various procedures international students must undergo to study in Jordan, and how exactly do international students send their various certificates and qualifications to the universities located in Jordan? Also do certain universities offer scholarships to international students or are they only available to Jordanian students? Please if you could get back to me I would really appreciate it. JazakAllah khair for your time.

Dear Queen Rania,
I know your heart is broken by the continued occurrence of honor killings throughout the world and you have even suffered personal persecution because of your stand on this issue. Be strong Your Majesty. The following is an article I wrote for Stop Child Executions a few months ago. My words are firm but they need to be said if we are going to move beyond the barbarism of this vile wickedness that is perpetrated in the name of religion. This article is based on an actual event in Pakistan. (Feel free to edit out my strong words if you feel it is necessary. I will leave that to your discretion.)

HONOR KILLINGS, THE MENTALITY OF HATE

By: D.W. Duke
No doubt Fatima, Fauzia and Jannat laughed and joked with excitement as they rode in the taxi from their home in Babakot to the village of Usta Mohammad where they intended to meet their fiances. It was to be their triple wedding day but instead it became the day of their execution and burial. Little could they have known that July 14, 2008 would be the last day they would enjoy the fresh air and the warmth of the sun in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. The oldest of the three, Fauzia Bibi was barely 18 years of age. The other two were believed to be 14 and 16.

Unbeknownst to the three girls the taxi driver overheard them talk of their arrangements to meet their fiances at a restaurant in Usta Mohammad then travel to a civil court to be married. After dropping the girls at the restaurant, the taxi driver returned to Babakot and notified their fathers. A local politician, along with the fathers and brothers of the girls, abducted them at gun point and returned them in a government vehicle to Babakot. There they were severely beaten, two of them suffering crushed skulls, and they were thrown into a freshly dug grave where they were buried alive. Janat Bibi, 38, Fauzia’s aunt, and Fatima Bibi, 45, the mother of one of the other girls, were shot and also buried alive for trying to persuade the murderers to forego the execution of the three girls. The murderers fired guns into the air as a warning to anyone who would approach the murder scene and try to intervene.The crimes for which the three girls were executed, in an ancient tradition known as honor killing, was that they did not want to accept prearranged marriage to men chosen by their fathers. Instead, they wanted to marry the men they really loved. Perhaps the shock of this tragic event is overshadowed by the greater shock that this tradition of honor killing is supported by local government authorities, who covered up the crime for nearly six weeks, until it was disclosed by a local journalist named Saarang Mastoi who could no longer remain silent despite the threat to himself and his family.

Notwithstanding the tragedy of this event, and the cover up by local government authorities, the greatest shock to the people of Pakistan came when Israr Ullah Zehri, a member of the Parliament of Pakistan who represents the Baluchistan Province, stated about the murder of the five women, “These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them. Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.” What immoral act was he referring to? He was referring to the desire of a human being to marry a person of one’s own choosing rather than to marry someone chosen by one’s parent. He was referring to the desire to marry for love rather than tradition. He was referring quite simply to the pursuit of happiness. In the eyes of Israr Ullah Zehri that is a capital offense. Other members of the Parliament of Pakistan were appalled when Zehri urged them to not make an issue of the tradition of honor killings because in his mind it has the effect of curtailing obscenity.

One has to inquire how an individual of such a barbaric mentality as Israr Ullah Zehri could have earned a seat in the Parliament of Pakistan in the 21st century. How could such a despicable notion as the propriety of honor killings find a place in the leadership of a modern democratic nation? Sadly, his words represent the mentality of hate which appears under the guise of religious tradition not only in Pakistan but throughout many nations of the world. It is an evil that grows like an infestation in places where honorable people refuse to speak out. It is an evil that empowers the wicked to inflict their cruelty upon the innocent victims of the world and it is the most vulgar and despicable violation of womanhood the world has ever seen.

The only way to address this barbaric evil is to prosecute those who engage in such acts. The helpless girls who are victims of this deplorable practice are not able to protect themselves. They cannot withstand the brutal beatings and executions of the very men who should be protecting them and in whom they should be placing their trust. Only we can protect them from this mentality of hate. We can do this first by demanding that those guilty of these murderous acts are incarcerated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We can further protect them by demanding that despicable cowards such as Israr Ullah Zehri are voted out of office so that truly competent leaders can take their places. And we can protect them by assuring that human rights do not become secondary to the religious fanaticism that rears its ugly head when the rest of the world turns a blind eye. Only then can we protect the Fatimas, Fauzias and Jannats of the world who are the innocent victims of honor killings, the mentality of hate.